This invention relates to a quick-release device for a life ring which simultaneously ejects and actuates lifebuoy marker means. This invention is an improvement over U.S. Pat. No. 3,675,257. By means of that invention, a life ring or ring buoy is propelled into the water from a ship when an operator pulls a simple release handle. The propelling force results solely from a novel use in this environment of the force of gravity to give improved operability and better propulsion.
The U.S. Coast Guard requires that a flare, light, or smoke signal accompany the ring buoy and be connected to it by a painter line. Devices heretofore in use, while complying with the requirements, have supported the smoke or flare signal or light in such a position on the ship that the pull on it from the life ring through the painter line is at right angles to the direction required to free the signal and pull it out, relying on a sufficient force component to achieve the result. Since the life rings are quite light in weight, the force component has often proven unsatisfactory. Even at best, it has slowed down the fall of the life ring and made it more subject to action by the wind. Even U.S. Pat. No. 3,675,257, though a considerable improvement in this matter over the earlier art, still supported the flare or light or smoke signal by a pair of pressure clips and relied on the painter line to jerk the lifebuoy marker free from the clips.